28 September 2016Dear Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier:Following the protests that took place at a Dakota Access Pipeline construction siteon 3 September, we are writing to ask you to investigate the use of force by privatecontractors, remove blockades and discontinue the use of riot gear by MortonCounty Sheriff’s deputies when policing protests in order to facilitate the right topeaceful protests in accordance with international law and standards.On 3 September, protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline construction moved on toprivate property in response to the potential destruction of land that was earliermarked as containing burial grounds and sacred sites for the local Native Americantribes. After protesters had crossed a temporary fence onto the land whereconstruction was taking place, video shows members of a private security firm usedogs and what appears to be Oleoresin Capsicum spray (OC spray) against severalof the protesters before the security team leaves the premises. While the NorthDakota Private Investigation and Security Board is reviewing the use of dogs byprivate security personnel during the events on 3 September, it is the obligation ofthe Morton County Sheriff to review the actions taken by private security in boththe use of dogs and OC Spray against individuals at this site. Even though individualstrespassed on to private property in order to stop the destruction of potentialcultural sites, law enforcement, in its obligation to facilitate peaceful protest, has aduty to protect peaceful protesters and not use the unlawful acts of a few as apretext to restrict or impede the exercise of fundamental rights of a majority. TheMorton County Sheriff should review the unnecessary use of force by securitypersonnel on this day.In relation to the actions that took place on this day, Amnesty International USA haswritten to Morton County State’s Attorney, Allen Coppy, calling on his office to dropcharges of criminal trespass against Democracy Now! Journalist Amy Goodman.Miss Goodman was acting in her role as a journalist/reporter when she crossedonto private property in order to report on the actions of the protesters,construction crew and private security firm. Her trespass on to this property wasclearly related to, even essential to, effectively carrying out her role of covering theprotest and making information about it available to the public. We are calling onyour office to support that request to the Morton County State’s Attorney’s office.A copy of the letter has been attached.Lastly, we are calling on your office to refrain from outfitting officers in riot gearwhen policing of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests unless strictly necessary. On13 September 2016, after making arrests of at least 20 individuals who weretrespassing on private land in order to partake in non-violent direct action againstthe pipeline, images that were circulated from the protest site showed MortonCounty Sheriff’s officers outfitted in riot gear despite the lack of violence byprotesters. More recent images from ongoing protests at the construction site showofficers outfitted in similar gear, equipped with assault rifles and using armoredvehicles to police protests. The use of heavy-duty riot gear and military-gradeweapons and equipment to police largely peaceful demonstrations intimidatesprotesters who are practicing their right to peaceful assembly and can actually leadto an escalation in violence. Equipping officers in a manner more appropriate for abattlefield may put them in the mindset that confrontation and conflict is inevitablerather than possible, escalating tensions between protesters and police. Any policepresence at demonstrations needs to be proportionate to the situation. Policedeployed in larger numbers than appear necessary or deployed wearing protectiveclothing or riot gear can be confrontational and intimidating. As seen in manycountries, inappropriate or excessive police interventions can actually lead toviolence and disorder rather than reducing tensions.The U.S. government is obligated under international law to respect, protect, andfulfill the human rights of Indigenous people, including the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. It is the legitimate right of people to peacefully expresstheir opinion. Public assemblies should not be considered as the “enemy”. Thecommand hierarchy must convey a clear message to law enforcement officials thattheir task is to facilitate and not to restrict a peaceful public assembly.We look forward to your reply and would be happy to provide additionalinformation as needed.Yours Sincerely,Margaret HuangExecutive DirectorAmnesty International USANote from Censored News:Thanks to Amnesty International for this statement. It is important that charges be dropped against Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, but it should have been pointed out that Cody Hall, Lakota media spokesman for Red Warrior Society, spent four days in jail on the same charge, criminal trespass, and Unicorn Riot livestreamers were arrested while livestreaming and jailed.

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KUKLA, OREN and OLLIE

MNN. Sept. 29, 2019. A subpoena was served on Oren Lyons and Ollie Gibson of the Onondaga chiefs, to appear in the trial of the “Onondaga15” in Syracuse on September 28, 2016. They sent their traditional anglo lawyer, Joe Heath, bedraggled, in a burlap sack suit, and no tie.

Onondaga chief: “What do you mean I’m not the Lone Ranger?”

Heath said the corpo chiefs have sovereign immunity. They cannot answer for their part in the violent attack on the onkwe’hon:weh. He cannot be sued or come to court because Oren is a clergyman, a religious faithkeeper of the Handsome Lake Code. He heads a corporation. He can be made to answer to the people of the Iroquois Confederacy.

One plaintiff said: “They are hiding behind sovereign immunity. The Onondaga Tribal Council of New York Inc. is under the US Constitution. kaia’nere:kowa, our constituion provides that anyone trying to establish anything else would lose their native name, land and birthright”. Oren cannot escape immunity for his crimes under the kaia’nere:kowa, the great peace. He incorporated himself and his followers under the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition by corporate entities. They accepted all laws, rules and regulations of the USA. Only the people are sovereign according to the kaia’nere:kowa, the law of the land. The council pretends to be the rotino’shonni, Iroquois Confederacy. tekentiokwanhoxta, the 49 original families, are the basis of rotin’shonni sovereignty. The two row wampum is our agreement with creation.

“Royaner must follow a path and cannot stray. Should he stray, he will be removed. Oren tries to impose his will on the people. He is a Seneca and must follow his mother’s lineage. He can never claim to be an onondaga titleholder.

Both Oren and Ollie are not onondaga and bring in outside police forces to terrorize the people. In 1996 the chiefs bulldozed businesses on Route 11 while the NYS Police stood by. Atotharho Leon Shenandoah said the businesses belong to the women on behalf of the people.

The two row is the oldest agreement between the onkwe’hon:we, US and Europe. To maintain the peace we would travel as equals and help each other.

The onondaga tribal chiefs are informants to New York State. They tried to enter into secret taxing compacts to share the taxes and control the people. Many resisters have no rights, benefits, jobs, running water or hydo. These are treasonous actions.

“Warriors and their families were coming to the May 18, 1997 ceremonial event. I went there as a rotiskenrakete that was on the “Dialogue Team” to inform the media and American public about what was going on. We ended up getting billy clubs and arrests.

Scullin admitted the comments were eloquent. “You may be right. I have to apply the [white] law that exists. This council is recognized by the state. They do enjoy immunity. I cannot enforce the subpoenas and quash them.”

According to Dennis Blythe’s interrogatory, i appears the chiefs provided false intel and allowed the police to attack us. How do we face our accusers?

On September 28th The ‘Onondaga15’ rested their case. Final submissions will begin on Tuesday, October 4, 2016. 12th floor, room 6, 100 South Clinton St., Syracuse. 9.30 am. Come and stand with us. The jury begins deliberations after that. thahoketoteh.

I have been asked to write a solidarity statement to everyone about the Camp of the Sacred Stones on Standing Rock. Thank you for this great honor. I must admit it is very difficult for me to even begin this statement as my eyes get so blurred from tears and my heart swells with pride, as chills run up and down my neck and back. I’m so proud of all of you young people and others there.

I am grateful to have survived to see the rebirth of the united and undefeated Sioux Nation at Standing Rock in the resistance to the poisonous pipeline that threatens the life source of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. It is an honor to have been alive to see this happen with you young people. You are nothing but awesome in my eyes.

It has been a long, hard road these 40 years of being caged by an inhuman system for a crime I did not commit. I could not have survived physically or mentally without your support, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and the depths of my soul for encouraging me to endure and maintain a spiritual and legal resistance.

We are now coming to the end of that road, soon arriving at a destination which will at least in part be determined by you. Along the lines of what Martin Luther King said shortly before his death, I may not get there with you, but I only hope and pray that my life, and if necessary, my death, will lead my Native peoples closer to the Promise Land.

I refer here not to the Promise Land of the Christian bible, but to the modest promises of the Treaties our ancestors secured from enemies bent on their destruction; in order to enable us to survive as distinct peoples and live in a dignified manner. Our elders knew the value of written words and laws to the white man, even as they knew the lengths the invaders would go to try to get around them.

Our ancestors did not benefit from these Treaties, but they shrewdly and persistently negotiated the best terms they could get, to protect us from wars which could only end in our destruction, no matter how courageously and effectively we fought. No, the Treaties were to the benefit of the Americans, this upstart nation needed the Treaties to put a veneer of legitimacy on its conquest of the land and its rebellion against its own countrymen and king.

It should be remembered that Standing Rock was the site of the 1974 conference of the international indigenous movement that spread throughout the Americas and beyond, the starting point for the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The UNDRIP was resisted by the United States for three decades until its adoption by the UN in 2007. The US was one of just four nations to vote against ratification, with President Obama acknowledging the Declaration as an aspirational document without binding force under international law.

While some of the leaders of this movement are veterans of the 1970s resistance at Pine Ridge; they share the wisdom of our past elders in perceiving the moral and political symbolism of peaceful protest today is as necessary for us as was necessary for the people of Pine Ridge in the 1970s. The 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee ended with an agreement to investigate human rights and treaty abuses; that inquiry and promise were never implemented nor honored by the United States. The Wounded Knee Agreement should be honored with a Truth and Reconciliation Commission established to thoroughly examine the US government’s role in the “Reign of Terror” on Pine Ridge in the 1970s. This project should be coordinated with the cooperation of the many international human rights organizations that have called for my immediate and unconditional release for more than four decades.

I have to caution you young people to be careful, for you are up against a very evil group of people whose only concern is to fill their pockets with even more gold and wealth. They could not care less how many of you they have to kill or bury in a prison cell. They don’t care if you are a young child or an old grandmother, and you better believe they are and have been recruiting our own people to be snitches and traitors. They will look to the drunks, the addicts, and child molesters, those who prey on our old and our children; they look for the weak-minded individuals. You must remember to be very cautious about falsely accusing people based more on personal opinion than on evidence. Be smart.

I call on all my supporters and allies to join the struggle at Standing Rock in the spirit of peaceful spiritual resistance and to work together to protect Unci Maka, Grandmother Earth. I also call upon my supporters and all people who share this Earth to join together to insist that the UScomplies with and honors the provisions of international law as expressed in the UNDRIP, International Human Rights Treaties and the long-neglected Treaties and trust agreements with the Sioux Nation. I particularly appeal to Jill Stein and the Green Parties of the US and the world to join this struggle by calling for my release and adopting the UNDRIP as the new legal framework for relations with indigenous peoples.

Finally, I also urge my supporters to immediately and urgently call upon President Obama to grant my petition for clemency, to permit me to live my final years on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. Scholars, political grassroots leaders, humanitarians and Nobel Peace Laureates have demanded my release for more than four decades. My Clemency Petition asks President Obama to commute, or end, my prison term now in order for our nation to make progress healing its fractured relations with Native communities. By facing and addressing the injustices of the past, together we can build a better future for our children and our children’s children.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for working together to protect the water. Water is Life.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Morton County violated civil rights of activist: A bogus warrant and a night in jailBy Brenda NorrellCensored News

MANDAN, North Dakota -- Greg Grey Cloud, Lakota, is free after spending a night in Morton County Jail, when a misdemeanor warrant was suddenly changed to a warrant with no bond. The State of North Dakota and Morton County violated his civil rights.Greg was charged with criminal trespass for Sept. 3 (the day that the dogs attacked the water protectors.) The bogus warrant was not issued until Sept. 15.Greg said he was not present on Sept. 3. He turned himself in, in order to clear the matter up with the court. When he arrived, he was told there was no bond on this warrant and he was forced to spend the night in jail.The charge is a misdemeanor.Then, the Morton County Jail left Greg in a small, cold interview room until 4 a.m., after an interview with an attorney.Today, the charge was dropped against Greg, but with the threat by the court that it could be refiled.Greg spent the night in jail, where twenty-one water protectors were jailed, after being arrested on Wednesday by police who burst on the scene with shotguns and assault rifles loaded, and armored vehicles.Native American women, children and elderly, and allies, were in prayer for the water and protection of the burial places, at a work site of Dakota Access Pipeline.Although the media has misled the public into believing that DAPL halted worked on the pipeline, DAPL has instead continued work at an accelerated speed, ignoring an order of the court to halt.A court order from the DC Court of Appeals issued on September 16, 2016 states that DAPL is to stop all construction in a 20 mile buffer on both sides of the Missouri River.The State of North Dakota, and Morton County Sheriff's Office, have refused to enforce the federal court order to halt construction.Greg is an advocate for missing and murdered women. Please share your support with him.

Today, on our 10th Anniversary, Censored News had one million readers!

By Brenda NorrellCensored News

We are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Censored News today, Sept. 29, 2016. What makes me happy is that we have, in the words of Martin Luther King, overcome. We have overcome the censorship and oppression, and the lies and manipulations, of the media, corporate monsters, and sinister politicians. We are still here. We are still publishing with no advertising, grants, or revenues. Today our readers have multiplied, and today we passed the 9 million mark in pageviews.

Ten years ago, I was a staff writer for Indian Country Today, where I had worked for most of the years since 1995. On that day, after being censored repeatedly, I was terminated. The editor had warned me, in writing, that if I did not stop writing about grassroots Native people, that I would be fired. On that day, I was on my way to the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit in San Xavier, on Tohono O'odham land.

With no place to post my articles, Censored News was born.

Indian Country Today editors censored some of the greatest and most powerful voices in Indian country. This happened after the newspaper was sold by Tim Giago, Lakota, to the Oneida Nation in New York in the late 1990s.

Those powerful voices that were censored included Buffy Sainte Marie, Russell Means, Louise Benally, Bahe Katenay, Lenny Foster, and San Carlos Apaches, just to mention a few.

An interview with Buffy Sainte Marie was censored for seven years, which detailed how President Lyndon Johnson blacklisted her out of the music industry in the U.S., because of her stance against the Vietnam War and her song, "Universal Solider." When the article was published, Indian Country Today continued to censor the facts about uranium mining on Lakota land at Pine Ridge.

When Louise Benally, Dineh of Big Mountain was censored, she spoke out against the invasion of Iraq as it began, comparing it to the horror and tragedy of the Long Walk of Dineh. She spoke out at a time when few would speak out against America's bogus wars and the lies behind those wars. (See Censored article below.)

Bahe Katenay of Big Mountain was censored when he described how oil and gas drilling were desecrating Dinetah, the Dineh Place of Origin in the Four Corners region. Russell Means was censored often. Lenny Foster was censored when he described how Leonard Peltier's rights were denied in prison. San Carlos Apaches were censored when elders protested for their water rights.

Being censored always leads to personal hardship, even devastation, as detailed in the lives of those who survived McCarthyism. Censorship can also open doors unimaginable. Both were the case for me.

After being censored and terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006, the other newspapers I had worked for since 1982 also refused to hire me. With time on my hands, I was able to travel the West, and even to Mexico and Bolivia, to share censored voices, always scraping up just enough money to make it happen.

During the past 10 years, thanks to Govinda at Earthcycles, Censored News was able to broadcast live and preserve audios of some of the great Native Americans of our time. We began our broadcast at the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit ten years ago. We broadcast for five months live on the Longest Walk northern route across America in 2008. Then, we were live at Western Shoshone, Acoma and Laguna Pueblos, Havasupai, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, and AIM West. We also broadcast from the Mother Earth Conference in Bolivia, and the Peltier Tribunal and Boarding School Tribunal in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In Sonora, Mexico, I was able to spend time with the Zapatistas when Marcos and the Comandantes came to Sonora, after traveling with the Zapatistas in Chiapas and elsewhere in Mexico through the years.

It is, however, the collective that Censored News represents today that is its greatest honor, its greatest offering. Today Censored News is a gathering of the good hearts. It is a collective of the writers, photographers, translators and activists -- who often pay out of their own pockets and share freely -- so the world will know the truth.

Today, Censored News belongs to all of them, and all of you, the good hearts who are resisting.

Thank you for this opportunity to celebrate.

-- Brenda Norrell

Dineh and Apache children in the prison of Bosque Redondo, Fort Sumner, N.M.

Louise Benally censored by Indian Country Today

The following comments by Louise Benally of Big Mountain, comparing the Long Walk and imprisonment in Bosque Redondo to the war in Iraq, were censored by Indian Country Today. Pressed to publish a correction to the published article by this reporter, the newspaper refused.

Navajos at Big Mountain resisting forced relocation view the 19th Century prison camp of Bosque Redondo and the war in Iraq as a continuum of U.S. government sponsored terror.

Louise Benally of Big Mountain remembered her great-grandfather andother Navajos driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army onfoot for hundreds of miles while witnessing the murder, rape andstarvation of their family and friends.

“I think these poor children had gone through so much, but, yet theyhad the will to go on and live their lives. If it weren’t for that, wewouldn’t be here today.

“It makes me feel very sad and I apply this to the situation in Iraq.I wonder how the Native Americans in the combat zone feel about killinginnocent lives.”

Looking at the faces of the Navajo and Apache children in the BosqueRedondo photo, Benally said, “I think the children in the picture lookconcerned and maybe confused. It makes me think of what the children inIraq must be going through right now.

“The U.S. military first murders your people and destroys your way oflife while stealing your culture, then forces you to learn their evilways of lying and cheating,” Benally said.

About Censored NewsBrenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 34 years. She began as a news reporter at the Navajo Times, during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation, living for years in a log cabin in the Chuska Mountains. During those years, she was a stringer for AP for five years, covering the Navajo Nation and federal courts, and USA Today for seven years, covering the Navajo Nation. As a staff writer for Indian Country Today, she covered the Southwest. After being censored and terminated by Indian Country Today, she created Censored News, now concluding its 10th year with more than 9 million pageviews.Donate to Censored News

Please donate to Censored News, which provides funds for our live coverage. We've published 10 years with no ads, grants or revenues. We are completely reader supported. Thank you. brendanorrell@gmail.com

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BIG BLUFF

MNN. Sept. 29, 2016. Judge Frederick Scullin [Bones] of the New York Federal Court tried to throw out so far 8 of the “Onondaga15” pro se plaintiffs/victims of the I-81 NYS INDIAN Detail attack on May 18, 1997. Five were a few minutes late because the guards kept them outside the courtroom. After argument they were reinstated.

Scullin does not allow evidence like a video showing women, children and elders standing around the ceremonial fire on the Jones property and being viciously attacked and arrested. Any evidence contrary to the interests of the NYS I-81 INDIAN Detail, especially their contradictory statements are being kept out. One was not allowed to cross-examine the cop in case of false arrest.

‘Henh! We told you to stop resisting police brutality!’

Scullin ordered the plaintiff to give him his questions to decide if they can be asked by someone else. The plaintiff insisted on asking them himself, which by law he’s allowed to. The fix is in!

NYS ‘royalty’: “You tell ’em, judge!!”

Scullin glanced for a second at the questions and then denied all questions, without explanation. An argument ensued. Scullin ordered him out of the courtroom. The plaintiff asked, “What does that mean?” Scullin demanded the plaintiff leave. The man asked, “What does that mean?” Scullin did not answer. The man asked, “Judge, can you clarify what you mean? Are you throwing me out of the case?”

Scullin yelled, “I want you out of my courtroom for the rest of the day!”

The plaintiff said, “I don’t believe you have ever experienced a case like this. Throw me out of the case so I can start my appeal!” Scullin wouldn’t.

Scullin ordered the jury out so they could not see his continued abuse. The plaintiff’s loud voice could be heard through the walls.

Freddie Scullin [Bones]: “You can appeal my disgusting rulings”.

Two plaintiffs left the courtroom with the boisterous man to protect him. During the chaos, one guard at the door pushed the plaintiff in the back. The plaintiff asked, “What are you doing?” One guard said, “At least I’m not a savage”, No, he’s a racist! Fifteen cops arrived as a show of force and escorted the three of the “Onondagas 15” out of the courthouse. Shuddering Scullin ran to his chamber where he could have a good cry.

It appears the court is trying to sabotage the case, hoping the jury will give a decision that supports the Troopers for their crimes.

One woman supporter walked out shaking her fist at the judge, “I’m a warrior!”

The INDIAN Detail that viciously beat the plaintiffs on May 18, 1997 sit and watch. The warriors were falsely accused of being at the gathering and putting the women and children on the front lines and running away!

Scullin continues to try to derail the pro se plaintiffs’ case. [Stand with the Onondaga15, 100 South Clinton in Syracuse]. thahoketoteh.

As the Onondaga15 are being railroaded by Judge Scullin [Bones], we are reminded of the Grateful Dead song “Casey Jones”: “Driving that train, high on cocaine. Casey Jones, you better watch your speed. Trouble ahead, trouble behind, and you know that notion just crossed my mind.”

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About Censored News

Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 35 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. Norrell has been a journalist in Indian country for 35 years. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the paying media for 11 years. Now in its 11th year with more than 16 million page views, Censored News has no ads, grants or revenues. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

Censored News Copyright Notice

Copyrights of Censored News content are maintained by all writers, photographers and anyone whose work appears on Censored News. No content may be used without permission. No content may be used in any revenue scheme. Portions of photos may not be used without permission. brendanorrell@gmail.com

The Rose of Love

"O FRIEND! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold." --Baha'u'llah, Baha'i Faith